


Birthday After Mornings

by Widow_Spyder



Series: Sengen Week [7]
Category: Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cuddling & Snuggling, Day 7, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sengen week, Tickling, sengen, senkus birthday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:28:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22135549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Widow_Spyder/pseuds/Widow_Spyder
Summary: Because he knows that self-doubt look well. The sad expression and far away eyes that make Gen look tired and done. It’s the same face he pulls every time he thinks Senku isn’t watching him.But he is.
Relationships: Asagiri Gen/Ishigami Senkuu
Series: Sengen Week [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1584016
Comments: 24
Kudos: 435





	Birthday After Mornings

The second time, Senku has a birthday party in the stone world, it’s much more extravagant and overall _big._ They’ve joined up with the Empire of Might and have already started building the Perseus when news slips that Senku’s birthday was coming up. Of course, when the news reached Ryusui, everything started kicking off from there. That and the added insistence of Taiju and Yuzuriha, who didn’t get to spend it with Senku last year, effectively sealed Senku’s birthday party fate. 

Since Senku doesn’t really do parties or big celebrations in his name, the village decided to keep it a secret until the actual day, once again staging a kidnapping and bringing Senku to the surprise party beyond his will. From there, the night was spent drinking, dancing, and receiving in Senku’s case, as with the magnitude of new people in the kingdom, came a lot more gifts to the scientist chief. 

_None of which are as big or meaningful as the observatory,_ Gen thinks with a smudge of pride. 

He has another gift for him too, but it’s back at the observatory, and getting Senku there is a problem he can’t seem to solve. Senku’s attention was being grabbed by everyone all at once, leaving little room for him to get a minute alone with the scientist. 

And he tries, he really does. But every time he gets close, Senku is always pulled away by someone else and disappears. After his fifth attempt, Gen just gives up and takes to watching him the rest of the night. He watches an, at first, reluctant Senku start to unwind and enjoy the party with a bright smile on his face. 

_Ahh, he has the cutest smile in the world._ Gen’s thoughts started trailing off. _I wish he’d smile at me like that._

But he doesn’t. The celebration goes on forever, and not once does Gen even get a chance to say anything to Senku. He listens to every conversation and tries to butt in, but he can’t seem to do it. Finally, everyone sits in a circle surrounding a fire as the last leg of the party starts to die off. 

Gen’s sitting on the opposite side to Senku, watching his face over the fire and feels his gut burn with sadness. He couldn’t get a spot near Senku in time before every seat near him was taken by someone else. 

So he listens and watches silently as everyone that was left in their group who hadn’t already gone back to their hut for the night, discuss plans to have a sleepover in the chief’s hut that was built for Senku. The idea wasn’t frowned upon in the slightest, only adding to Gen’s certainty that he was the only one there that was sober. 

When the party ends at around 4 in the morning, Gen notices there are three different subgroups that their group has sectioned themselves off in. The drunk, the very tipsy and the asleep. Their science group contains all of these types with Ryusui, Taiju, and Chrome as the hammered ones. Yuzuriha, Senku, Kohaku, Ukyo and Ruri as the tipsy ones and Suika as the one who was asleep. 

Kaseki would’ve been under the drunk category as well had Francois not been ordered by Ryusui to bring the old drunk back home. That left him as the only one wholly sober and carrying Suika on his back while he slowly followed the others as they all somehow got into the hut to crash for the rest of the night. 

He would’ve drunk alcohol at the party too if he weren’t so focused on staring at Senku all night. That and drunk Gen could never be trusted under any circumstances, especially since he spent the night pining for the scientist he had fallen for. 

Once they’re all in, everyone pretty much collapses on the floor and falls asleep immediately. The sight makes Gen’s eye twitch in annoyance. He ignores it, and first settles Suika down on the proper bed in the room, making sure she’s warm and covered, before heading over to the heater and turning it on. Then he grabs as much bedding as he can and covers everyone, making sure they’re all warm and even shoves pillows under their heads for good measure. 

By the time he’s finished, Gen is exhausted and slumping down the wall. It’s awfully quiet; Gen realizes once he’s settled, propped up against the wall. So much so, that the spiral of thoughts in Gen’s head starts to move again, making him want to scream. 

_He’s fallen in love. Hard. With a man who isn’t at all interested in love or romance or relationships._

Gen shakes his head in an effort to shake off that thought before it continues, but it doesn’t seem to work. In fact, the thought doesn’t escape him for hours. The others are still well into a deep sleep despite it already being almost noon, and he’s been watching them the whole time without a wink of sleep for himself. 

He can’t help it, his train of thought is moving too fast for him to slow down and the brakes broke a long time ago. 

_He wants to stay by Senku’s side._

_He wants to be the center of Senku’s attention._

_He wants to be praised more and hear Senku’s soft voice._

_But he can’t. Not now, not anymore. Since Senku got his friends back and made more along the way, he’s going to be thrown to the side and forgotten. He isn’t the only other person from the modern world anymore._

_He’s turning into a side piece._

_Senku is never by his side anymore._

_Senku doesn’t pay attention to him as much anymore._

_Senku doesn’t praise him with his soft voice for a job well done anymore._

_All of that is saved for his real friends. New and old._

On second thought, he should probably leave before his mind goes somewhere darker. He doesn’t want to feel jealous of the others, nor does he want to start feeling envious of them just because they get to have something he isn’t getting any more. _Asagiri Gen is better than that;_ he tells himself. 

Gen shakes his head for the dozenth time and stands up, brushing off his coat and then moving quietly around the hut to refuel the heater and retuck the kicked away blankets. Just as quietly, he makes sure that all sleeping science citizens are comfortable, without so much as a creak of noise. 

_Curtains in 5, Asagiri Gen. Get your camera smile out._ The crabby voice of Gen’s manager still somehow rings through his mind with perfect clarity. That’s right; he’s about to present himself outside. He needs to put his walls back up after that spiraling thought process he just went through. 

With ingrained practice, he flits through a couple of his different camera smiles, shaking his head and cracking his neck when they feel wrong until he’s finally satisfied. 

Finally, he walks forward and opens the door, feeling a cold wind breeze past him as a whine escapes the back of his throat before he can stop it. _Stupid cold weather,_ Gen thinks as he slowly takes a step outside, only for a pair of arms to wrap around his waist the second his feet slip on some ice and then being propelled backward into darkness.

——————

The loud impact and high pitched yelp are enough to rouse two other science citizens who were previously asleep. Kohaku, who has her swords out ready for a fight and Yuzuriha who starts fretting over the fallen Taiju with Gen on top of him. Meanwhile, Senku is facepalming with a groan while Ukyo sits up next to him, sympathy evident on his face.

“Jeez, big oaf, not so hard!” Senku scolds, not raising his voice above a whisper. 

Taiju winces, releasing his grip around Gen’s waist. “Sorry. The ice is pretty slippery.”

Senku scowls and scoots forward, lifting Gen’s head into his hands and checking for injuries. 

Of course, the force nor what should be a harsh hangover is enough to harm Taiju with his inhuman stamina, but Gen isn’t so lucky. Despite landing on the bedding laid out on the floor, he’s still unconscious by the time Taiju rolls both of them on their sides. 

“Is he okay?” Ukyo asked, also keeping his voice low as he gestures for Kohaku to put her knives away. “That was some rough landing.”

“Yeah, he’s knocked out cold, though.”

“I don’t doubt it; I could hear something crack all the way from here.” 

“Superhearing Ukyo, remember?” Senku reminds, putting small amounts of pressure here and there on the back of Gen’s skull. “I just hope the cracking you heard was the floorboard.” 

From there, Senku doesn’t really pay attention to the new conservation that takes place, starting with Kohaku, asking just what the hell they were doing. Ukyo explains it to both Yuzuriha and Kohaku while Taiju adds in every once in a while. Senku pays more attention to the lax face in his hands. The way Gen’s eyes aren’t scrunched up in stress anymore and how his body is completely relaxed, contrasting his earlier stature.

Despite staying up pretty late, Senku’s inner clock had woken him up early anyway. There was a slight headache at the back of his eyes, which was annoying, but he couldn’t bring himself to pay attention to that as he opened his eyes and quickly spotted Gen staring in his direction from his place against the wall. Except his eyes weren’t focused at all. It didn’t even look like he had noticed Senku was awake. 

He looked around the room and immediately noticed all the blankets and pillows on top of them that he knows for a fact weren’t there when they fell asleep. Many of the others are still deeply asleep as well. Mainly the completely drunk people who are still too deep in dreamland to be woken up by anything except their impending hangovers. Senku knows it’ll be a while before they’re awake. Suika included, who had stayed up way past her bedtime. 

Then he turned his attention back to Gen, when a hand suddenly waved at him, drawing Senku’s attention to Ukyo, who was awake too and had noticed Gen’s odd behavior as well. After a few seconds, Senku signaled for the other to be quiet and watch what would happen. 

And they did. 

They watched Gen, unmoving and not blinking from their positions on the floor for what felt like almost half an hour before Gen’s left eye twitched. 

Senku feels something akin to pure relief as he watches Gen blink and comes back to himself in a snap, before closing his own eyes and feigning sleep, hoping Ukyo does the same. He does seem to get the memo if the lack of conversation is anything to go by. 

He listens to Gen walk around the hut quietly and feels him grab blankets that were strewn away and tuck them back in around everyone. 

It makes Senku wonder just what he did to deserve Gen’s loyalty to the science kingdom. 

_To him._

For the whole night, Senku had been trying to get to Gen and talk to him like they always did, but every time they got close, he was herded away by someone else and distracted. The continuous flow of drinks wasn’t helping either as the alcohol made it harder for him to form his thoughts properly. 

Once Gen stopped trying to come near him, Senku knew it was going to be a tough night for him, and it turns out he was right. 

Because he knows that self-doubt look well. The sad expression and far away eyes that make Gen look tired and done. It’s the same face he pulls every time he thinks Senku isn’t watching him. 

But he is. Senku always notices, mentally writing down each date it happens so he can create a timetable of predictions for possible future outbreaks. When one of those days come, Senku does his best to include Gen in everything he does. He’s only satisfied when Gen’s mood stays cheerful even as they part for the night. The thing is, he can’t predict the exact future, nor can he read Gen’s mind, which makes it difficult for him to really get all the dates aligned. 

It also doesn’t take his genius brain to know that Gen had been staring at him all night and for the past few days. One of the major signs that Gen was starting to doubt himself again. 

Then Taiju tapped him on the shoulder, also signaling that he was awake and ready for whatever Senku was planning to do about the situation. He must’ve also witnessed Gen’s thousand-yard stare from behind Senku and already knew Senku planned on doing something about it. 

Meanwhile, Gen had been fiddling with the heater to refuel it, not noticing that three people were already awake behind him. In that time, Senku was able to signal the plan to Taiju, who nodded in understanding before shutting his eyes again as Gen crossed the room. 

Senku opened his eyes into tiny slits to peek at what Gen was doing when he didn’t hear him move for a few minutes. The sight he sees makes Senku’s stomach curl as he watches Gen practicing fake smiles before keeping one plastered on his face and moving to the door. Senku taps Taiju quickly on the shoulder, telling him it’s time to move. 

Quickly and quietly, Taiju stands up, and just as he hears Gen whine at the cold wind blowing past the door, wraps his arms around Gen’s waist to haul him back into the hut, just like the plan stated for him to do. 

What Senku didn’t expect to happen was Gen slipping on ice, making Taiju step forward to steady him, only for him to slip on the ice too and fall backward, pulling Gen with him. They both fall to the floor with a loud crash, startling two others awake and making the other two cringe in sympathy. 

Then worry fills Senku’s senses as he watches Gen’s head lolled to the side with his eyes closed. _The force of the impact must’ve knocked him unconscious,_ Senku thinks as he scooted closer to investigate.

With that, Senku effectively snaps out of his trip down memory lane and looks back to the others who are still talking in hushed voices, then again at Gen’s sleeping face. There are bags under his eyes, making it clear that Gen hasn’t slept in a while. 

Senku sighs and starts pulling Gen back to where Senku was previously sleeping, nodding to Ukyo, who notices his struggle and helps him. Finally, they’re able to get Gen under the covers with Senku sat up behind him, massaging his scalp and neck. 

From there, the five who are awake, continue talking with one another for a while as Gen sleeps beside them, with a relaxed face and content stature.

——————

The first sense that comes back to Gen when he starts to wake up strangely is his hearing. Muddled voices are around and above him, whispering in low voices about things he doesn’t understand yet.

As he swims further to wakefulness, he realizes something is rubbing the back of his head and that there’s something warm connected to his back. It feels pretty nice and comforting, which is odd because Gen still has some semblance of his memories before everything went dark, and he knows he wasn’t feeling this comfortable at the time. 

With a bit too much effort in Gen’s opinion, he tries shifting to rub at his eyes that are stuck together so he can open them and see what’s going on when a voice cuts through and interrupts him. 

“Oh, he’s waking up.” He hears Kohaku’s voice say as a hand brushes his bangs out of the way. When Gen opens his eyes, he sees to his confusement, Kohaku, Yuzuriha, Taiju, and Ukyo, all smiling at him. It’s kind of creepy, so Gen shifts to the other side only to be blocked by Senku, who is the source of warmth on his back. 

“Hello, mentalist. How’s your head feel?”

Gen winces when he thinks about it. “Like Kohaku and dodgeball gone wrong. What hit me?”

“The floor,” Senku responds, before explaining what happened when Gen looks absolutely lost. “Taiju tried to pick you up and bring you back inside, but you both slipped on ice and fell backward. You hit your head hard.”

“Explains the insistent ringing.” Gen groans, trying not to think about the tension he can feel the others giving off. 

“Where were you headed anyway, Gen?” Ukyo asks with an expression that’s giving Gen a headache. He’s too tired to keep feigning his good mood anyway. 

“My hut.”

He watches Yuzuriha shift awkwardly. _They know something I don’t._ Gen’s mind filled the blanks. “Why? Is it not comfortable here with your friends?”

“Try being the only one awake and sober out of all those friends. Trust me; you’d get bored too.”

“Maybe I wasn’t exactly sober last night, but even now, I can hear you lying,” Ukyo states, and _honestly, what is this an interrogation?_

Gen glares at the archer before bringing his voice into a deadpanned tone. “Maybe you should go back to sleep and keep your nosy ears to yourself.” 

“Aw, our mentalist seems to be in a bad mood.” Senku chuckles, ruffling Gen’s hair a little.

“I got suplexed into the floor, talk to me when my head isn’t cracked open.” 

Senku shook his head and tapped him between the eyes. “I think you’re just cranky because you didn’t sleep last night.”

“And what makes you think I didn’t sleep?”

“The bags under your eyes for a start.”

Gen huffed in response, pulling the blankets up farther to cover his face, hoping the blush he felt wasn’t noticeable. He hears someone giggle above him, making the blush worse before he shuts his eyes to go to sleep again. He feels Senku’s hand return to the back of his head and starts lightly massaging where he knows there will be a bruise later. 

_Maybe when he’s more awake, he’ll think about the fact that Senku is literally pressed up against him and stroking his hair as he falls asleep._

After what feels like no time at all, he’s almost completely into dreamland when Senku suddenly pokes his cold fingers into his arm. He tries to ignore it, but the finger is insistent, constantly poking him until Gen grumbles in defeat and opens his eyes. 

“What’s wrong now, Senku-chan?” 

“Smile.” 

Gen has to blink and wait a second for the response to register in his head before speaking again. “What?”

“Smile for me,” Senku repeats. “Consider it a birthday present.”

Gen grumbled, glaring at the other before putting on one of the smiles he had practiced earlier. He hopes it’ll get Senku off his back so he can go back to sleep, but it doesn’t seem to work if Senku’s frown is anything to go by. 

“No, a genuine smile. Not your fake mentalist smile.”

“Rude! What do you mean? This is my genuine smile!” Gen countered. It was honestly the truth; he hasn’t smiled without thinking about it since he was a kid. Showbusiness had told him it was better to rehearse the smiles he’d put on. 

“It’s almost sad that it looks like you might actually believe that.”

“Excuse me?” Gen shuffles onto his back to look at Senku sitting next to him. It didn’t look like the latter was going to drop this. “Fine, tell me then, what’s a genuine smile supposed to look like?”

“I mean, a genuine smile -” Senku started, smirking evilly as he put his hand gently onto Gen’s stomach under the blankets earning a quick inhale and widened eyes. “Is something you do when -” Senku continued moving, sitting on top of Gen’s waist and letting both his hands rest on his chest and stomach. “you let go of the walls you put up.”

Gen’s blushing hard, and he knows it but tries to respond anyway. “Since when are you a psycholo - mmph!” 

Gen immediately slaps his own hands onto his mouth to stop the noise he knew would come out as he felt Senku’s hand curl under his clothes and trace his skin lightly. He shuts his eyes as Senku doesn’t stop, moving further and further up into his ribs. 

“What was that? Come on, mentalist, I can’t understand you if you cover your mouth like that.” Senku teases, as he suddenly scribbles his fingers everywhere he has access, catching Gen entirely off guard. Gen knows at the back of his mind that the others are watching them with smiles on their faces, and he should feel embarrassed, but his thoughts aren’t forming correctly anymore. 

Gen’s laughing hard and feels tears gather in his eyes, but he won’t remove his hands his mouth. He bucks and squirms, trying to dislodge Senku, but it doesn’t seem to work. Only when he feels Senku’s hands move up under his arms does he reflectively shove his arms down to block access, which uncovers his face in the process. “No, no! St - AH - P!” Gen screams, feeling his limbs get weaker. 

“So, our mentalist can smile!” Senku laughs along, not stopping for a second.

“Don’t! NO!” Gen yells again, losing himself completely. Senku only stops when Gen starts gasping for breath. He rolls off and lays down next to Gen, who’s still laughing a little and covering his eyes with his arm. 

“Screw - screw you.” He pants, hearing the others laugh a bit. 

“Maybe later, in my hut,” Senku whispers back into his ear, making Gen reel back and look at Senku’s face inches from his. He notices his pupils are slightly dilated still and groans. 

“Should’ve known the alcohol wouldn’t have totally been wiped from your system yet.”

“Yeah, maybe we should sleep on it some more.” Senku smiles, promptly dropping down onto the pillows and wrapping his arms around Gen’s waist as the latter struggles to get free. His back is to Senku’s chest, and he can feel Senku’s breath on his neck. 

“You’re not going to let me up, are you?”

“I think you’re now the official snuggler for the chief of the science kingdom, Gen.” Ukyo pats him on the head as he heads back to his spot. 

“Shut u - ha! - p!” Gen tries to say, only to be interrupted by Senku, sneaking his hands under his shirt again and lightly tickle him again. “No, mooore!” Gen whines, the smile he’s forced to put on, making his face hurt. “You’re horrible ~,” He says once Senku stops. 

“Ukyo, plug your ears for a second.” Senku orders. 

“Already done.” Ukyo smiles, lifting up wax earplugs and putting them in before laying down again. “Please wake me when it’s time for lunch.”

“Rest well, everyone,” Yuzuriha adds, laying down next to Taiju and Kohaku, who are already asleep again. 

“You better sleep now, so you can stay awake for the activities I have planned tonight with you,” Senku whispers in Gen’s ear, poking his tongue out and licking the shell of Gen’s ear. Gen flushes deep red before he shifts around and smashes his face into Senku’s chest. 

“Horrible, absolutely horrible.”

“Yeah, but you like me anyway.”

Gen huffed but smiled anyway. He couldn’t deny it.

**Author's Note:**

> What happens when you switch ideas for fics at the last minute? A late fic! Sorry, let's just pretend it's still Senku's birthday.
> 
> I can’t believe Sengen Week is over already!! It was really fun seeing everyone’s work. This fandom is honestly the best. Happy Sengen Week everyone! :D
> 
> I have a tumblr! @/ Widow-Spyder
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this one and thanks for reading!


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